


The Challenge of Something to Do with Ups and Maybe Aging

by OmnipresentNuance



Category: The Loud House (Cartoon)
Genre: Aging, Challenge Response, Gen, Meta, Supernatural Elements, Weirdness, self-referential, strange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:01:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25021321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OmnipresentNuance/pseuds/OmnipresentNuance
Summary: What starts as a fairly typical afternoon for the Loud siblings rapidly evolves into a bizarre series of shocking revelations, unusual questions and other strangeness. My own silly, perhaps unique and very much slapdash contribution to this whole “Age-Up Challenge” thing shebang stuff and such that's from FanFiction.net. Kind of funny, but slightly serious and even spiritual. Author’s notes contains more.
Kudos: 1





	The Challenge of Something to Do with Ups and Maybe Aging

**Author's Note:**

> *Just wanted to add this advisory specifically for the Archive of Our Own edition of this. This is a response to a challenge that's popped up in recent days over at FanFiction.net and the following notes both below and the ones at the end pertain exclusively to what happened over there. However, I still nonetheless always dual post everything I write both over there and here as well, but I just wanted to point out that everything described below exclusively only counts for FFN just to avoid any confusion*
> 
> Well, how goes it my fellow members of the great human species? Safe to say this was not how I foresaw starting off a new month of writing, yet here we are and we might as well make due with what is brought forth.
> 
> So I guess this is part where I explain what this is all about, though it's going to be a much more quicker and dirtier explanation than others. As most of you know, the Loud siblings are going to be aged up by a year in season 5, but apparently there are some...very vocal people out there for whatever reason or another who, shall we say, aren't too pleased by this. As a result, one feller has chosen to ignite a "revolution" (or as I see it, launching a fool's errand) by petitioning Nickelodeon to keep the siblings in the same age ranges while also making other strange demands. These range from keeping Lori in high school, to having the return of several of the love interests featured in the episode "'L' is for Love" and even having Simon Sharp's current design changed to that of the version created by JaviSuzumiya. Yeah, weirdness and dare I say irrationality all around.
> 
> Anyway, a challenge has since been created by one Mr. Albertson where authors are "tagged" as these internet savvy kiddie-winkies say, are encouraged to read through the demands without laughing, then write something with the Loud siblings reacting and apparently riffing on all the silliness.
> 
> Now, allow me to walk you through the fast moving events that affect my thought process over this. Following the publishing of my most recent story prior to this, "One Sharp and Stormy Night", I didn't login or even some much as come on here for the three days that followed. This actually happens more often than you know, me going inactive for upwards of one to four days following the publishing of stories of mine, but that's neither here nor now. Anyway, I returned yesterday and usually what I do first after logging in is see what might've been published in that time. As I skimmed through, I saw my username in a summary of a story. Intrigued, I checked it further and saw that it was none other than one Mr. Grace of the Salvation Sort (or Your Saving Grace is Here to you and me for those without my bizarre usage of oddly euphemistic names, including the title of this here written form) had tagged me to take part in this here challenge. Heh, you were mistaken indeed, Mr. Grace, for indeed I'm taking part, and thanks for tag!
> 
> Admittedly, I wasn't too keen at first about doing this and I wasn't under the impression that this had to be mandatory. But after about 20-30 minutes of deliberation after discovery, I thought I go for it, if for any other reason out of the spirit of doing something outside of my standard wheelhouse.
> 
> Speaking of which, besides this being extraordinarily different from what I typically do, I chose to approach this very much differently than has been done so far. I'll confess that I'm massively flouting the established rules of this challenge as a result. Dare to defy convention. But at the very least I do believe I've fulfilled the minimum requirement of the siblings being told about this silly and fruitless "revolution/petition" and getting their baseline reactions to the chief complaint of preventing them from aging up.
> 
> Finally, I'll admit hands up in the air this is far from my best work and that might be an understatement. This was basically cobbled up during the afternoon and early evening hours of yesterday with added touching up today. But hey, not everything I write is going to be a guaranteed home run, I'm humble in admitting that.
> 
> Gah...so much for this being a "quick and dirty" explanation. It's instead turned out to be gargantuan! But finally, enough waffling and let's get into the madness that'll unfold...
> 
> The Loud House is the exclusive property of Nickelodeon and Viacom. The usage of the setting, characters and such is based on nothing more than a pure affinity for everything and is not being used for monetary purposes.

It was a standard day over at the Loud house. Aren't they all? Well, sometimes they are, and other times they aren't. But that's neither here nor there.

Presently, the Loud siblings, animation's most preeminent and lovable set of youthful child and teen relatives without the surname Sharp residing within the fictitious suburban town of Royal Woods, Michigan, said to supposedly be based on the real life Michigan town of Royal Oak home to the brainchild of these siblings and other assorted characters within this word known as...uh, name redacted. But he's not important…

Anyway, the siblings were gaggled together on the couch watching TV, 'cause what else is there to do on a lazy afternoon such as this one? Contemplate life's silliest and strangest anomalies?

Speaking of anomalies….

The relative placidity and what could be charitably called tranquility of kids and adolescents bearing the same surname which signifies clarion exclamations that are of high decibel levels engaging in collective telly viewing would be rocked by a sudden and somewhat apropos booming sound effect that rattled the house and jolted the nerves of everyone.

"Whoa, what the heck was that?!" Lana said in shock.

"I don't know, but it sounded, like, real scary!" Leni said similarly unnerved.

"Yeah, no kidding…" Lola added, but a theory quickly came to mind, "Hey, was that one of your experiments exploding, Lisa?"

Lisa shook her head, "Negatory, third youngest sibling of this familial unit. I have nothing bubbling or incubating in this current timeframe. Plus, typically such detonations are accompanied by a wafting of chromatic smoke typified by a shade of green. So in simpler layman terms spoken on the street, no."

"Well, what was it then?" Lincoln wondered.

" _Greetings, Loud siblings."_

Suddenly, an unidentified voice caused a yelp among the group.

"Who said that?!" Lynn said, looking every which way.

" _Heh...caused a startle did I?"_

"More like making us feel like the Earth or apples, because you shook us to our _cores!_ " Luan attempted in making a joke, laughing anxiously, "Okay, I can admit that didn't work too well...but seriously, who are you?"

" _Well...I'll admit that I'm not the most easily definable of beings. Obviously you can't see me, but can indeed hear me."_

"So...are you literally like a ghost or something?" Lori inquired.

" _Uh...I wouldn't call myself that necessarily."_

"What about a spirit? An apparition? Or maybe even a demon?" Lucy questioned.

" _No, no and most certainly no. I guess you can for the sake of simplicity, I shall be know as...The Presence."_

"Huh...gotta admit that sounds kinda cool." Luna acknowledged, "But really, what brings...whatever you are...to our home, dude?"

" _Simple, really. But first, let me preface something by informing you of something that may, as your fellow comedienne inferred to, shock you to your collective cores."_

The Presence could be heard clearing his throat...or its, whichever, but it has a decidedly masculine voice, so "his" could also work...and continued on.

" _Guys...you don't technically exist. You're not real."_

As expected, complete confusion and bewilderment was the dominant reaction.

"Huh?" Leni uttered, touching her arms, "But I feel real."

" _Okay, yes, in your own universe, you are real in a sense. But as far as the so-called 'real world' is concerned, you don't exist. You're fictional. You're just a bunch of cartoon characters."_

For a moment, the siblings conferred with one another about this out of the blue claim. During this time, The Presence muttered under his/its breath.

" _Oh boy, if they become too self-aware that they're cartoon characters, they better not suffer the same fate as The Angry Beavers. Why did the greatest Nickelodoen animated series ever had to suffer such an untimely demise by bigwigs who are stupid enough to think kids would be stupid enough to think cartoons are real and not fictional? Gotta fix this once my business here is done."_

"Hey, what was that, mister?" Lana asked.

" _Uh...nothing. You heard nothing."_

"Okay, enough with the crud, bub. What's the deal with you just waltzing in, or however you arrived, and telling us were not real? Who do you think you are?!" Lola shouted.

" _Hey, have some patience here, princess!"_

"You know, you have some nerve to question our existence when we can't even see you." Lucy posited, "Besides, I'm still sticking with the idea you're some spiritual entity."

" _Okay, now we're just arguing semantics..."_

"Or there's a modicum of chance we're in some kind of dreamscape and this is only something occurring in our collective imaginations." Lisa theorized.

" _Ugh, okay, nevermind! Think whatever you want. The point is you and a whole bunch of other people in your lives don't truly exist and instead are part of a fictional television program, all right? Now, let me get to the meat of it all…"_

"All right, at first I was scared of this...thing, but now he's or it sounds like a total weirdo." Lori whispered.

"Won't get any argument from me, sis." Luna agreed.

" _I heard that! You may not see me, but I am ever present and hear all!"_

"Just get to the point already! What's so dang important that you need to tell us?!" Lynn demanded.

" _Well, if you insist…"_

Again, The Presence cleared his/its throat.

" _Okay, got another question and observation to share first…"_

"Oh, come on, now", and all other sorts of complaining came about from the gradually impatient and annoyed Loud siblings.

" _SILENCE!"_

And just like that following that booming command, they were cowed into quietness.

" _Now if I can proceed with any further interruptions...good. I'll just put it out there: you guys have been through a lot of adventures in...let's say four seasons worth of adventures, right?"_

"Uh...maybe? I mean, we have a lot fun during all the seasons, especially in winter with, like, Christmas and stuff…" Leni replied.

" _Wait, no, I don't mean the seasons of the year with the changing of weather and all that. I meant like television seasons that last approximately one year or something, yes?"_

"Uh, I guess...I mean, none of this is making sense, so may as well just roll with it at this rate." Lincoln conceded.

" _That might be the best route so that this can be over with sooner rather than later, I agree. Anyway, in all those adventures, have you ever noticed that you've largely stayed stationary in pretty much the same age ranges in that time?"_

"Hmm...now that you mention it, I actually have noticed that…" Luan admitted.

Soon, everyone else around her slowly reached that same conclusion.

" _Well, glad to see you all realize that. But...what if I told you that won't be the case for much longer?"_

"Meaning?" Lori simply inquired.

" _In other words, this upcoming next season of adventures that comes at a yearly clip involve you guys going up by one year in age!"_

Despite all the confusion of all that's happened thus far, the siblings couldn't help but find that potential prospect to be intriguing, if not outright worthwhile.

" _But…!"_

However, The Presence had more to say.

" _As interesting as that might sound...what if I told you there's a select few that don't want to see that happen at all?"_

"What do you mean by that?" Leni asked.

" _Well, I won't bore you by going into the whole nitty gritty of the details, but there's some who are trying to petition your creators and other assorted people of the sort in trying to make sure you stay the same age perpetually for all eternity it appears. Oh, and they want a whole bunch of other changes and other some such made, so there's that, too."_

"Like what?" Lucy wondered.

" _Uh...personally, I'm not going to divulge too much into them, but safe to say, they're pretty strange, chuckle worthy even. Nevertheless, it's the whole aging thing that's worth sticking to in my opinion."_

"Hmm...well, as has already been opined, though this whole experience has been quite the head scratcher, I must at least sound off on that very aging topic this...ethereal or otherwise form is speaking of, siblings. Personally, I find it irrational that any sapiens would be foolish enough to believe they can control the biological process of one's numerical advancement in their life cycles. Pointless, I say." Lisa said.

Lori nodded, "Yeah, aging is something everyone goes through. Literally no sense in trying to stop it for whatever reason."

"I mean, it'd be neat if could find some way to take a pause in life and stay within a certain age, but that would get super boring and even make life something of a bummer after a while." Luna added.

"You know, I'd like see what I'll become a year from now! Forget what those dopes think!" Lynn declared.

"Dummies!" Lana shouted.

"Morons!" Lola followed up with.

And soon a whole cavalcade of mixed statements ranging from dismissive to fully derisive came from the siblings coupled with anticipation of aging up, including even from Lily, although being a baby and all, hers came in the form of various indistinct babbling sounds. But as that went on, The Presence couldn't help but chuckle.

"Huh? What's so funny?" Luan asked.

" _Oh...it's nothing. But I might as well put this out there next…"_

A brief pause, then more speaking came about.

" _Guys, while I admire the moxie in wondering what you'd like as a year older each, I don't know if the insults and negativity against those who aimlessly oppose that are needed."_

"What? I don't get it." Lincoln said.

"Yeah, why shouldn't we make fun of those who want to hold us back age wise?" Lynn added.

" _Hey, do whatever you'd like, it's not my position or moral authority to tell others how to opine on whatever subjects they like. But at the end of the day, is it really worth it? I mean, look, I agree wholeheartedly it is quite silly and a waste of time trying to make changes to characters those of which have no power over or hold them back in aging. I'm not arguing against that at all. You are the designs of your creators and they are ultimately who assign your destinies through the professional_ _ly_ _done styles of writing and drawing. At the same time, though, I don't think one should make a huge deal over it, either. Those who are demanding such unlikely changes or calls for the status quo to remain_ _largely_ _the same have to know to some extent they're fighting a losing battle and I'd rather have them figure it out themselves instead bludgeoning them verbally with the obvious. But what do I know? I'm just some g_ _arden variety_ _presence with an opinion that might not hold a lot of groun_ _d, isn't forcing it on anyone or anybody and is suggesting at the very least that life is too wonderful and grand to_ _obsess over really strange things one way or another. Utopian thinking? Perhaps. Healthier outlook? Most likely. Helpful suggestion that can be turned down voluntarily through the free will we all have? Absolutely. I'm not dictating t_ _he choice behavior of others_ _, but it never hurts to put it out there_ _as a friendly piece of advice_ _. Okay,_ _now_ _I'm done being preachy and stuff."_

Frazzled as they can be, the siblings tried regrouping enough to recap the insanity.

So...they were visited upon, or really barged in by if they're really being honest, by some sort of invisible all-present entity who kind of rudely informed them they "weren't real" and are only cartoons and quickly realized the potential unforeseen consequence of such which had to be rectified, that they haven't aged much in the span of four television seasons, but the next season will seem them age up a year. Then, the entity…

" _The Presence…."_

Sure, right, whatever, the Presence…

" _Capitalize the 'T' in 'The', dang it!"_

Fine, _The Presence_ , who after done arguing with the narrator and would allow him to return to the art of exposition…

Wait, hold up, there's a narrator here? And he's self-referencing himself?

" _Get back to the point!_ "

Right, right, of course…

Anyway, The Presence then informed the Loud siblings that some select...eccentric people thought petitioning, or actually orchestrating a revolution apparently, in order to prevent the aging up process of theirs, plus other demands that aren't really as relevant as the anti-aging stance but are nonetheless silly all the same, would be a good idea.

Then in a complete unforeseen and outta nowhere like an RKO or Diamond Cutter kind of twist, while still poking fun at the individuals leading the fruitless charge, The Presence took a stunningly humble route and also simultaneously didn't think this wasn't something to cause an alarm over at the same time given the literally less than zero chance such a "revolution" had of succeeding.

...What?

Sense this makes not sentence like much this.

Was this...er, _The_ Presence on some spooky supernatural trip when thinking this out? Were the Loud siblings themselves on some kind of trip? Is perhaps _everyone_ on a trip right now, including those watching on through some kind screen shaking their heads in a combo of pity, bemusement or even a small indefinite quantity of joy?

Makes about as much sense as anything that's gone on so far…like this written form.

Anyway, back to The Presence and the Loud siblings...

" _All right, long story short, kiddos,_ _you're aging up soon, some people don't like it, some others don't like those who don't like it, and this devilishly handsome Presence is taking the weak neutral route of not caring either way and sticking to positive outlooks in life. Well, that does it for my role in this. Good day...oh, right, almost forgot. In about a few seconds time, you're going to hear a very loud sound like that of a giant pair of hands doing a singular clap. When that happens, you'll be transported back several minutes prior to all this brain scrambling_ _strangeness occurred. None of this ever happened, you never knew who I was and you never got told you're nothing more than fictitious cartoon characters. All right, everyone savvy and simpatico? Good. Now, one, two...three!"_

Before they knew what hit them, the siblings felt and heard an earth-rattling clap sound, followed by being caught in a time traveling montage complete with accompanying warbling music as well.

In just a few short seconds, everything returned to normal and the siblings were back to simply watching TV together as if nothing else happened before, after or since.

Meanwhile, off on a distant hill overlooking the entire town of Royal Woods, The Presence now took the form of an indistinct shadow cloaked young adult male. Chuckling, he...yes, he, we're going solely with that now...he turned and addressed the viewing audience.

" _Well, that...was weird. Imagine being obsessed over something as silly as aging of characters. But brace up, my friends, acquaintances and chaps, for I have words of wisdom for both sides. To the ones upset at th_ _ose failing self-styled paper revolutionaries, let it be known they consist but a tiny vocal fraction who shouldn't be but a blip on the radar and never be a reason to negatively view the fandom in a bad collective whole. To those who for whatever reason have hesitance over the Loud siblings aging up, you should not despair, for the existence of new adventures in aged-up forms does not invalidate their previous adventures in any way, shape or form. You can always relieve those escapades whenever you want and the season of five and beyond can exist in its own separate paradigm should you wish so. Plus, for all affected sides involved, there's always the wonderful realms of fanart and fanfiction where you can write, draw, read, see and look at an infinite number of possibilities that cater to your personal interests and such."_

Well, as for this narrator to wrap things up, we all live in one big happy continuum and it's better to coexist peaceably and in civil discourse instead of getting bogged down in silly disputes or controversies.

Or to put it more immaturely, positivity rules, negativity drools.

**Author's Note:**

> All right...I, uh...yeah...that was an...experience I'd say. I think I lost the plot three-quarters of the way into this. Having too much sugary cereal before finishing up this could've played a role in that, so maybe I indeed was on a trip of sorts.
> 
> Now, first off, I do humbly apologize if this...thing we'll call it...came off as overly preachy. That wasn't my goal and I'd feel bad if I came off as if I even mildly insulted anyone personally from either side of the whole aging up divide. Again, I'm sorry if I did and it was not my intention to do so.
> 
> If it wasn't transparently clear, The Presence was basically a less than subtle avatar for...*sigh* me. Better to create an unseen ethereal entity as opposed to a self-insert. In fact, just before I published this, I read Angelwings2002's contribution to this challenge and she sort of more or less did something very similar to what I did, so I shouldn't feel too guilty about taking the route I did.
> 
> To further explain my initial hesitance on doing this at first and to expand based on my above apology, I wasn't high on really giving it hard to those pursuing this losing endeavor in preventing the siblings from aging. I've explained ad nauseum my only goal in Loud House fanfiction writing is to be a positive presence on here and I worried about being too overly harsh against those sorts of people. That is why although I did point out the silliness and foolhardy attempts to dictate to the writers and producers of the show what should be done, I also want to assure everyone that's obviously not going to happen and no one at the same time should get too overly hot and bothered over this on all sides. Besides, as The Presence so eloquently put it, if you don't like something that's happened to or happening in the show, you can always go to the wonderful worlds of fanfiction and fanart where you can create and look at anything you specifically like to see.
> 
> Oh, and yes, The Angry Beavers is indeed my favorite Nickelodeon animated show and show from that network overall of all time. I consider it the funniest and sharpest written show on the animated front Nickelodeon has produced. The Loud House believe it or not is only my second favorite, despite all that I've invested and contributed in written forms based on it.
> 
> Finally, you've probably noticed I haven't tagged anyone to do this so far. That's because just to have another excuse to break another one of the rules of this, I'm not going to tag any specific individuals to do this. All I'll say is if you fancy yourself in taking part in this challenge, then go right ahead should you please. There, that counts, right?
> 
> Now with this weird contribution of mine out of the way, back to the regularly scheduled written programming of wholesome fluffy and other likewise adjectives that can describe the stuff I prefer to write! But thanks for reading this in any event and I'll see you again soon!


End file.
